Increasing the competitiveness of American universities in building energy efficiency R&D is important

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $600,000 in funding to help American universities to establish stronger partnerships with industry and business in the area of building efficiency.

A recent study by the National Research Council found that increasing the competitiveness of American universities in building energy efficiency research and development is of great importance, and that universities need to develop stronger partnerships with business and industry in this area. In addition, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers has emphasized the need for expanding manufacturing education at all levels, including undergraduate and graduate students.

The selections for the Building University Innovators and Leaders Development (BUILD) awards support efforts by American universities to more effectively compete for building energy efficiency research and development funding, develop partnerships with industry, and improve manufacturing education. Each selected project will receive $200,000 in funding; more than 50 percent of expenditures in each project will be used to support undergraduate students.

The projects selected for the awards are:

• Drexel University (Philadelphia): The Drexel University project will develop a cost-effective automated fault detection and diagnostics tool that integrates statistical process control, machine learning, and rule-based methods to reduce building energy consumption. To enhance the tool’s plug-and-play capability and potential market penetration, it will be compatible with VOLTTRON, an open-source software platform that is highly interoperable.

• Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta): Georgia Tech will support 20 student project teams in developing building energy efficiency technologies through a capstone design project. Students will gain hands-on product design experience, including the manufacturing and testing of a prototype solution, as well as publicly demonstrating the solution at the Capstone Design Expo. Student teams partner with company sponsors, which will foster student employment in the building energy efficiency sector.

• University of California, Davis (Davis, California): University of California, Davis will have undergraduate students work with industry partners to develop and validate a new EnergyPlus solution to model hybrid rooftop HVAC units. This model will integrate the function of multiple cooling elements to gain climate-specific advantages in comfort and efficiency.

DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) works to accelerate development and facilitate deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. More information about EERE’s Building Technologies Office is available here.